Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) - The criminal police in North Rhine-Westphalia will be testing new identification tags from September 5th. They are provided with the lettering "criminal police" and a star with the state coat of arms and, according to the Ministry of the Interior, can be worn on a belt or a pendant, for example. Three different prototypes should therefore be tested for four weeks in investigators' everyday life. The "Bild" newspaper had previously reported.
Kripo officials in Düsseldorf, Münster and Paderborn are involved in the pilot project. They're testing all three versions of the brand, which differ slightly in the finish of the leather and metal star. "If the carrying attempt is successful, the North Rhine-Westphalian criminal police will be quickly equipped with the new equipment," said the Ministry of the Interior.
The background, according to the ministry: Especially in larger operations, police officers do not always know all of their plainclothes detective colleagues. With the brand you can easily identify yourself - also to witnesses. Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) said "Bild": "I want police officers to be able to spontaneously identify themselves and act safely." The identification tag is part of a ten-point plan to strengthen the police force that Reul presented in the spring.
Oliver Huth, NRW head of the BdK detective union, welcomed the project: "Such badges are already standard in other countries, so it's good that North Rhine-Westphalia is following suit." The recognizability of detectives is an important issue - especially due to the increased cases of wrong police officers.
